Curtin Malaysia hosts WWF-Malaysia YESCP awareness talk

Miri – 4 October 2017 – Curtin University, Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) recently hosted a Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Consumption and Production (YESCP) awareness talk by World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia) for its students at its campus here.

The talk was organised by the Curtin Environmental Engineering Club (CEEC), a student club at Curtin Malaysia dedicated to promoting environmental sustainability, and delivered by Dr. Adrian Choo, manager of sustainable wood products at WWF-Malaysia.

Dr. Choo’s talk focused on the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and its certified products and also addressed current global issues such as carbon emission and deforestation.

Also joining the seminar through video-conferencing was Dr. Hong Chern Wern from WWF-Malaysia. Dr. Hong briefed the participants on ‘EcoCampus’, an initiative to get tertiary institutions to adopt innovative and sustainable environmental practices and address environmental issues in collaboration with various stakeholders with the aim of lessening their carbon emissions.

According to Dr. Hong, the concept of ‘EcoCampus’ has been popularised throughout many tertiary institutions worldwide and it allows universities to be recognised for addressing key issues of environmental sustainability.

Meanwhile, Dr. Choo encouraged the participants to use FSC-certified tree-made products which are endorsed by WWF for their best practice standards along the supply chain. He said products bearing the FSC logo are made from a responsible source that generally minimises environmental damage and pollution.

The FSC consults a global network of environmental, social and economic members to ensure forest standards represent everyone’s needs – from indigenous peoples to endangered animal species.

Dr. Choo also encouraged them to be more environment-friendly by using electronic gadgets to read online reading materials or complete their assignments to reduce paper usage.

Event organiser Lee Kek Kin said the participants were pleased to gain new knowledge and learn how to engage in environmental protection during the seminar and thanked WWF-Malaysia for its support.

Club advisor and Environmental Engineering Programme Coordinator at Curtin Malaysia’s Faculty of Engineering and Science, Dr. John Lau, remarked that the talk was successful in enhancing environmental awareness among the students. He cautioned that everyone should love and embrace the environment, quoting the words of 1997 Goldman Environmental Prize winner Terri Swearingen: “We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to.”

Dr. Lau (left) presenting a momento to Dr. Choo following the talk.

Group photo of the talk attendees.